Kids, Adults Alike Will Love Lively Clay Figures

October 7, 2005|By Phoebe Flowers Film Writer

How much do you suppose Paul "My blank stare means I'm acting" Walker and Jessica "I'm not just a hot body -- I'm a pretty face, too" Alba were paid to appear in the current release Into the Blue? Imagine if that money had been given, instead, to someone like stop-motion animation master Nick Park. With a fraction of it, he could have created clay figures more expressive and nuanced than the live-action Walker and Alba.

Of course, Park isn't really known for his delicate sculpting of abdominal muscles. What he is known for is creating Wallace, a cheese-fixated inventor of dubious contraptions, and Gromit, the silent, endlessly patient dog who repeatedly saves Wallace from himself. The three Wallace and Gromit short films have all made it to the Academy Awards (with the latter two winning). It was inevitable that Park, who also co-directed Chicken Run, would eventually take his act to the big screen.

Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit finds the duo running a successful company called Anti-Pesto, rounding up carrot-thieving bunnies hot to dig into the gardens of the town. Because an eagerly anticipated giant-vegetable competition is on the horizon, Anti-Pesto's services are all the more necessary. The contest also makes the emergence of a ravenous, belching, slurping were-rabbit all the less convenient.

Some fancy voice talents accompany the feature-film debut: Helena Bonham Carter, as a wealthy matron who insists no bunnies be harmed in the preserving of her beloved vegetables, and Ralph Fiennes as a hunting-mad, would-be suitor of Lady T. But the better-known actors (veteran Peter Sallis continues to voice Wallace) do not distract from the story; they manage to be funny and effective without overshadowing anything.

It's not easy to find a kids' movie -- or at least one that appears to be for kids -- that's not only not painful for adults to watch, but also equally enjoyable, in different ways. (The average 6-year-old will probably not find book titles like "Fromage to Eternity" or "Grated Expectations" as funny as her mom will.) Meanwhile, it's hard to believe any demographic wouldn't enjoy the ridiculously cute "burrowing bounders" rounded up by Anti-Pesto, who are fond of squealing "Whee!" in tiny bunny voices. Hey, Wallace and Gromit are movie stars -- "Whee!" indeed.